School Physical Activity Programming – Past, Present, and Future

ABSTRACT

Research in Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) has evolved over the past decade. A goal of CSPAP is to provide opportunities for children and adolescents to engage in at least 60 minutes of physical activity through school-based physical activity programs. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the history of CSPAP, and to situate the author’s work within the timeline of the expansive CSPAP research from the past to present. Possibilities of CSPAP research will also be shared in this article.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical education
• physical activity promotion
• school-based physical activity

Acknowledgements

I would also like to take time to acknowledge two individuals who have helped shape my path in research. First is my advisor and mentor, Dr. Kerrie Kauer, with whom I worked with at California State University, Long Beach, on my master’s thesis. Before I began my master’s studies, I knew very little about research but through her guidance, I gained a vast understanding of qualitative research and become passionate with this methodology of research inquiry. Through her mentorship, I completed my master’s thesis where we explored the experiences of Singapore’s 1st Women’s Mount Everest team, regarding the social and cultural influences on their experiences in a male-dominated sport of mountaineering, as well as barriers and challenges that these women overcame in the pursuit of this sport (Goh & Kauer, 2011). At the University of Utah, my advisor and mentor, Dr. James Hannon supported and guided me throughout my doctoral studies and provided me with multiple opportunities as a graduate teaching and research assistant at the university. I had the opportunity to work with elementary teacher candidates in a science methods course, where I introduced the concept of movement integration and examined the elementary teacher candidates’ perceptions of implementing movement integration in their classrooms (Goh et al., 2013). Through these opportunities, I was able to forge my research path in physical activity programming within the schools and community to promote physical activity among youth and adolescents, which ultimately propelled into my “line of research” to this date. Through Dr. Hannon’s guidance, I also learned different quantitative research methodology, including using systematic observation and various physical activity measurement tools.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).